1 Dec 2011 ....'Give me, I pray thee, of thy son's mandrakes........'

....'Give me, I pray thee, of thy son's mandrakes......
Doda-im -- Mandrakes : as used in homeopathy
And Reuben went in the days of wheat harvest, and foundmandrakes in the field, and brought them unto his mother Leah. Then Rachel said to Leah: 'Give me, I pray thee, of thy son's mandrakes.'
One of the mysterious verses of the Tora.


Dod-im is often translated asmandrakes[MANDRAGORA], but also jasmine, violets and even baskets of figs has been suggested.
The mandragora officinarum  [the root], as it is known today, is rarely used today as it contains highly toxic alkaloids.
It was formerly used as an anesthetic for operations.
Intoxication symptoms are those of atropine [dry mouth, intense thirst ,slow pulse and even death] a name known to the Israeli population because of our "lovely neighbours"...........
In homeopathy mandragora [D6]can be used for "navel-colics" [abdominal cramps] which are especially worse in the morning hours and where the child tends to stretch backwards [which seems to give relieve [bism.nitr, belladonna and dioscorea also have this "symptom": abdominal pain relieved by stretching, whereas the abdominal pain of colocynthis feels better by bending [mitkapel] and is often accompanied by nausea [bechilot] 
In adults certain kind or "rheumatic pains" and sciatica [ischias] maybe rapidly relieved by mandragora, when the patient tells us heat and movement seem to relieve the pains [Rhus tox. also have these characteristics]